Chocolate nemesis

Chocolate nemesis set up for a delivery. White chocolate is piped on top, walnuts scattered over, and this is garnished with more raspberries and physalis (cape gooseberries). The secret to a good chocolate nemesis is to cook it on the day, just before you are about to serve it, so it stays moist and soft in the centre.

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Lemon tart

Lemon tart for a dinner party set up for delivery. Raspberries are grown locally, and the mint is from my garden. Summer is the best time for both of these ingredients.

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Glazed lemon tart with raspberries and raspberry sorbet

Served for a hen party in May

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Sausage roll

Made for a buffet. My version of a sausage roll has lattice puff pastry, making it much lighter. The sausagemeat comes from Home Farm, Bredons Norton, and there are sage leaves on top of it picked from my garden.

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Baked vanilla cheesecake with blackberries

I'd been working on perfecting baked cheesecake for a while. This one is glazed on top like creme brulee which is the final touch I'd been looking for.

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Canapes

Here set up for a delivery:

Herb rolled goats cheese
Paupiettes of smoked salmon
Dates stuffed with Oxford Blue cheese
Tartlets of king prawns marie rose
Ham roulades with grain mustard

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Grilled Evesham asparagus with scallop and tiger prawn fricasse

A photo taken in June during the asparagus season. I used asparagus from Bangrove Farm near Teddington (between Evesham and Cheltenham). It's easy to understand why English asparagus is so revered - yes it has a short season, but the depth of flavour is something you can never experience from imported asparagus. Here the asparagus is chargrilled, far better than boiling (which means you lose the flavour into the water) I find.
Tiger prawns and scallops were sauteed individually to give them colour, then kept aside. I deglazed the pan with white wine, added a little chicken stock and cream, finished it with chives and a little lemon zest and finished the dish with a parma ham crisp.

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Chicken in elderflower

Free range organically reared chicken from the smallholding in Chadbury, poached in elderflowers picked by the river with a creamy grape sauce. The elderflowers are left soaking in water and lemon (prevents discolouration) overnight, then strained. The liquor is used to poach the chicken, and then that poaching liquor is used to make the sauce. New desiree potatoes dug from the garden, with chives and chive flowers picked from the herb garden. All set against the lavender bed of Dove Cottage. Now that's what you call a locally sauced dish. I just can't wait for the grapes to mature on the vines later in the year.

Ref: Elderflowers

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